God’s love – The Noontimes

Matthew 10:26-33: Courage Under Persecution

Matthew 10:26-33: Courage Under Persecution

Thursday, October 16, 2025

Do not be afraid . . . Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.

When we are filled with fear that a loved will abandon us when we speak truth, we must not be afraid. God is with us to guide us.

When we are anxious that a colleague at work or a community friend has set us up to fail, we must not be afraid. God is with us to guide us.

What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

God speaks to us in the quiet of our hearts and counsels us. We must say the words he urges us to say.

God speaks to us through the companions who journey beside us. We must witness to the injustices God urges us to uncover.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Our mortal life is worth nothing if it houses a hollow soul. God knows all that is within us.

Our spirit cannot be stifled when our soul has invited God to dwell within. God knows all that takes place around us.

Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

There is no doubt that evil exists and those who doubt its existence invite the darkness into their hearts.

There is no doubt that God exists and those who nestle into God’s goodness know that God’s compassion and desire to forgive knows no limit.

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.

God is all-present and all-knowing and has the power to do as he likes and yet, God is incredibly patient, allowing us time to decide to turn to God.

God is all-loving and all-powerful. God rescues us from our craziest follies.

Even all the hairs on your head are counted.

God knows us inside and out. It is impossible for God to not think about us.

God’s love for us is unimaginable, all-encompassing, everlasting. It is impossible for God to not love us.

So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrow.

When we are tempted to succumb to the demands of a loved one in order to keep peace, we must not be afraid. God will show us a marvelous way for us to extract ourselves that will leave a wake of healing rather than a trail of shame.

When we are tempted to give way to the unscrupulous request of a colleague at work or a community friend, we must not be afraid. God will guide us through the intricate plans of deceit that have been plotted against us.

Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.

God wants us to be with God for all eternity. This is something we cannot change.

God wants to number each of us as loyal and faithful servants. This is something we can choose.

But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

God does not hide God’s goodness and light under a bushel basket. And neither must we.

God does not leave any stone unturned in his effort to gather even the last of his sheep. And neither must we.

Do not be afraid . . . have courage, and know that even under persecution – especially under persecution for Jesus’ sake – you are well-guided, you are well-protected, you are well-loved.

When we are persecuted, we must stand on the knowledge that God holds the faithful in God’s hands. And we must trust these hands to see us through any danger, any pain, any sorrow, any loss.

And so we pray with a canticle from Wisdom 3:1-6 . . .

The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.

They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us utter destruction. But they are in peace.

For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself.

Amen.

A re-post from September 21, 2011.

Images from: https://www.backtothebible.org/post/strengthening-your-discipline-of-prayer

October 16, 2025

fear of openness, God’s love, loving God, more than sparrows, omnipotent God, Wisdom 3:1-6

Isaiah 51: When We Feel Abandoned

Isaiah 51: When We Feel Abandoned

Sunday, October 12, 2025

These are the first words that greeted me this morning in my email inbox. They are from the Richard Rohr site to which I subscribe and currently Rohr is sending messages from his newest book, BREATHING UNDER WATER. The title – and the meditation message below – speaks to anyone who has suffered deeply, and to anyone who longs to suffer well.

“Only people who have suffered in some way can save one another—exactly as the Twelve Step program discovered. Deep communion and dear compassion is formed much more by shared pain than by shared pleasure. Only those who have tried to breathe under water know how important breathing really is, and will never take it for granted again. They are the ones who do not take shipwreck or drowning lightly, who can name “healing” correctly, who know what they are being saved from, and who develop the patience and humility to ask the right questions of God and of themselves.

“You see, only the survivors know the full terror of the passage, the arms that held them through it all, and the power of the obstacles that were overcome. Those who have passed over eventually find a much bigger world of endurance, meaning, hope, self-esteem, deeper and true desire, but most especially, a bottomless pool of love both within and without”.

From BREATHING UNDER WATER: SPIRITUALITY AND THE TWELVE STEPS, pp. 123,124,125 http://cacradicalgrace.org/resources/breathing-under-water

Here we have clear instructions for what to do when we are deeply troubled, for when we believe that we do not fully understand God’s plan, for when we may even feel abandoned by God.

Listen to me . . . we are instructed. I will help you to breathe under water. I will sustain you in a world that feels foreign to you.

Look to the rock from which you are hewn . . . God says to us. You are made in my image. I love you dearly. I will never leave you.

Be attentive to me . . . God calls out to us. I exist through all time and space as do you. I speak to you now. I am telling you that you will never fail.

Raise your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth below . . . we are challenged. Choose life or death. Choose your own plan or mine.

Fear not the reproach of others . . . we are cautioned. Their opinion means nothing in the light of eternity. Follow the law rather than the whimsical judgment of those who chase after power, status and reputation.

Awake, awake, put on strength . . . God urges us. I know that you are weary but my burden is light and my shoulders are broad. I carry many but I long to carry you.

Hear me, you who know justice, you who have my teaching in your heart . . . God does not waver, God does not give up. I, it is I who comfort you. I am the Lord you God. I have put my words into your mouth. I have shielded you in the shadow of my hand. I stretched out the heavens; I laid the foundations of the earth. I am here to rescue you.

So when we are fear-filled, we must remember to ask for the grace, patience, and wisdom to discern God’s hand in all that happens around us. When we feel abandoned, we must keep the arms of Jesus wrapped round us. When it seems that all is hopeless, we must abide in the faith that God the Father knows all and keeps his promises. When we are deeply troubled, we must ask intercession for those who have harmed us and done us damage. When we feel utterly alone, we rest in the understanding and solace of the Holy Spirit. And when we are healed, we turn to others to pass along the wonder of God’s love.

A re-post from September 17, 2011.

Images from: https://blog.padi.com/what-is-scuba-diving/

October 12, 2025

abandonment, compassion, despair, fear, God’s love, hope, Richard Rohr and Breathing Under Water, suffering

Psalm 12: Plea for Help in Evil Times

Psalm 12: Plea for Help in Evil Times

Monday, September 8, 2025

The human character seems determined to bring about evil. No epoch escapes the lust for power. No era is exempt from the pursuit of wealth or the competition for survival. The chase for fame is a goal that exacts a lethal price; but dark consequences deter few. Many of us are bent on building a life of celebrity, affluence and supremacy and this quest destroys both individuals and whole societies.

In ancient days, and in our own, we long for a serenity that comes with the cessation of conflict. We look for ways to de-stress our lives, to slow down the headlong pace of our digital interface with the rest of humanity. We complain about the divisions we experience and yet feel powerless to bring our world together; yet somewhere deep within we know that we must change our circumstances. And so we turn to the eternal wisdom of the Spirit. We follow the model Christ gives us. And we ask for God’s intervention and help.

Today, as we look for transformation, we search various translations of this holy prayer. We place our trust in God’s plan and love. We remember the promises God keeps. We consider the furnace of evil times that we survive while the silversmith of life watches over us. And we ask for help in evil times.

When we use the scripture link and the drop-down menus, we consider God’s hope for humankind, and how we might make a plea for God’s help in evil days.

Image from: https://www.bereaproject.org/verse-of-the-day/2016/6/3/psalms-126-7

For more posts on God as silversmith, use the blog search bar and explore.

September 8, 2025

furnace, God’s love, God’s plan, silversmith

Job 42: Babbling On

Job 42: Babbling On

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Again, today we look at THE MESSAGE translation in which this chapter is entitled, Job Worships God: I Babbled On About Things Beyond Me.

Having come through his grief and pain, Job says to the LORD: I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset your plans.

We might smile as we read and pray these words, or we might grimace. How do we understand God’s control of the universe? Does is bring us comfort, anxiety, peace or fear? How do we react to Job’s final response to God?

We are rewarded if we spend time with this last portion of the Job story for it is in the unfolding of the action that we find our own intimacy with God. It is in the patient fidelity of the innocent sufferer, that we find a premonition of the Christ story. And it is in the hope-filled abiding of God’s faithful servant that we see a glimpse of the Spirit that heals and transforms. Just as the Lord restores Job, so does God restore us; and this happy ending to a tale of difficulty and expectation brings us affirmation of our confidence in God. We have a person we can model, an attitude we can take on. We have God’s wisdom teaching us The Way of peace that Jesus brings to all.

Today, despite our babbling about a plan we struggle to understand when life goes against us, we determine to rely more on God and less on ourselves. We decide to trust the economy of the Lord rather than our own. And we confirm God’s love in choosing us, power in protecting us, and wisdom in teaching us . . . in the face of our incoherent words.

Tomorrow, celebrating with the Lord.

When we compare translations of this chapter, we begin to see why we cannot understand things beyond our comprehension.

For a reflection of the power of our words, click on the image or visit: https://restoredministriesblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/power-of-the-tongue/

August 19, 2025

God’s love, God’s plan, God’s wisdom

Proverbs 2:1-5: My Child

Proverbs 2:1-5: My Child

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

I have always liked the simple wisdom of Proverbs for Lady Wisdom has much to teach us.

My child, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you to do. Listen to what is wise and try to understand it. Yes, beg for knowledge; plead for insight. Look for it as hard as you would for silver or some hidden treasure. If you do, you will know what it means to fear the Lord and you will succeed in learning about God. (GNT)

As a child, I never understood why we were to fear God. As I grew, I came to recognize fear as a sense of awe. As an adult, the verses of Proverbs bring God’s overwhelming love to our hearts.

Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you;
    collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom;
    set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That’s right—if you make Insight your priority,
    and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,
    like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours;
    you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God. (MSG)

Friends offer words of advice, Wisdom found close to home and near to the heart. I take in the wisdom my own friends offer. And as a friend to others, I search for counsel in this practical, and often humorous, book of instruction.

My son, if you will receive my words
and store my commands inside you,
paying attention to wisdom
inclining your mind toward understanding —
yes, if you will call for insight
and raise your voice for discernment,
if you seek it as you would silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure —
then you will understand the fear of Adonai
and find knowledge of God. (CJB)

Ancient words are frequently apt, gathering past and future into a fruitful present when we share them with our children. Old axioms bring pearls of wisdom, offering respite in the storm, refuge in combat.

Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you;
    collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom;
    set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That’s right—if you make Insight your priority,
    and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,
    like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours;
    you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God. (MSG)

Wisdom, Understanding, Insight. These are the gems we unearth when we spend time with these sayings. Searching, prospecting, seeking. These are the actions we take as children of God. Counsels, gold, gems. These are the treasures we unearth when we answer the call of Christ. Beseeching, learning, healing. This is the transformation we experience when we rest in the Spirit of the Lord.

My child, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you . . .

When we compare translations of these verses, we find safety in the Lord’s awesome love. We find refuge as children of God.

Image from: https://www.ppic.org/event/reducing-child-poverty-california/child-adult-holding-hands/

August 5, 2025

God’s love, insight, seeking, understanding, wisdom

Ephesians 1:11-12: Choosing

Ephesians 1:11-12: Choosing

Saturday, August 2, 2025

As a rising high school senior, I quizzed my teachers and parents about the concept of predestination with the typical questions.

If God has everyone’s life planned out, can we really decide anything for ourselves? If God is so good, why do bad things happen – especially to good people? If God is all-powerful, omniscient and all-knowing, how can we say that our lives are not predestined?

My parents listened to my reasoned arguments and reminded me that because God is patient, understanding, merciful and just, God gives us the opportunity to choose good. My teachers allowed me to explore existential thinking, reminding me all the while that we have the opportunity to be a part of the struggle for goodness over evil. We are offered the chance to participate in society’s positive evolution. We have received the gift of life to do with as we will.

Over time, I came to understand that each day we rise with new prospects for goodness. By noontime, we find occasions to ask forgiveness and to forgive. Each evening we find fresh doorways to old problems. As I move through life, I re-discover and re-experience both the magnitude of God’s love, and the enormity of God’s call and promise. What wondrous gift is the gift of life. What a treasure is the relationship God seeks to establish with us. What fierce abiding. What outrageous hope. What passionate love.

When I read these words to the Ephesians today, I no longer ask the questions I asked as a youngster. Rather, I wonder how God has such patience with my slowness. I marvel at how willing God is to forgive and forgive again. And I am grateful for the gift God gives me to choose goodness over harm each day I live.

When we use the scripture link and menus to explore other translations of these verses, we find the clarity and wisdom to choose well.

Image from: https://www.tammistepersonal.ee/blogi/moeldes-noortele-kuhu-edasi

August 2, 2025

God’s love, God’s plan, God’s wisdom

Malachi 2:6-7: What We Teach

Malachi 2:6-7: What We Teach

Wednesday, July 31, 2025

The prophet Malachi is known for his exhortation to put aside “spiritual degradation, religious perversions, social injustices, and unfaithfulness to the Covenant.” (Britannica online) Malachi recalls the fidelity and courage of the early Hebrew priests and people who first entered their covenant with God.

They taught what was right, not what was wrong.

How do we spend our time and energy today? What do we teach through the living of our lives? What is the fruit of our labor? As we review the local, national, and international news, how do we commit to bringing the world together rather than tearing it apart?

They lived in harmony with the Lord; they not only did what was right themselves, but they also helped many others to stop doing evil.

How do we apply our talents and gifts today? What do we achieve through the Spirit’s gifts of creativity, mercy and justice? As we interact with family, friends, and colleagues, how do we build bridges and tear down walls?

It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the Lord Almighty.

How do we share the hope and love God sends to us each day? What do our words and actions communicate to the world about our own ideas of inclusion rather than exclusion? What do they say about our willingness to gather in those on the margins and those left behind? As we enact the priesthood ordained by Christ, how do we reflect God’s image, and engender the healing action of the Spirit?

Each day we have openings to learn God’s wisdom from our failures and successes. The lessons God gives us are our interactions with others; they bring us opportunities to expand our knowledge, and to explore the promise of God’s hope. Each day we have new endings and new beginnings as we learn to teach with each gesture, each movement, each encounter with Christ.

What do we teach each day? We have only to look into the eyes of others to discover the answer.

For more information on prophecy, see the Britannica online article on the minor prophets at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/biblical-literature/The-first-six-minor-prophets#ref961890

When we compare other versions of these words, we find new lessons from God.

For more reflections on this prophecy, enter the word Malachi into the blog search bar and explore.

Image from: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/teaching-more-than-meets-eye

July 31, 2025

God’s love, God’s wisdom, the marginalized

1 John 4:16: We Ourselves Know

1 John 4:16: We Ourselves Know

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. (GNT)

If only we might believe these words as we move along the route of our global and personal pilgrimage.

So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. (NRSV)

If only we might take up the words of hope the disciples of Christ share with us.

Also we have come to know and trust the love that God has for us. God is love; and those who remain in this love remain united with God, and God remains united with them. (CJB)

If only we might show compassion for our enemies and pray for the Spirit’s healing and consolation.

Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. (MSG)

If only we might be Christ in the world, restoration for the marginalized, and steadfastness with all who yearn for peace.

When we compare varying translations of these words, we come to know for ourselves the promise of Christ, the hope of the Spirit, and the wisdom of God.

Image from: https://www.rofum.org/love-what-god-loves/

July 23, 2025

God’s love, love enemies

Isaiah 9: Peculiarly God’s Own

Isaiah 9: Peculiarly God’s Own

Sunday, June 29, 2025

We are accustomed to hearing this beautiful anthem at Advent and so these words feel odd to us in the northern hemisphere who experience Christmas in the cold and dark. We are accustomed to frosty, long nights rather than warm, short ones when we think about God’s coming to live among us. The people who walked in darkness cry out for light. Isaiah’s people are lonely and afraid as they try to ride out the terms of their exile. Today’s words must have felt astonishing to them, yet welcome. These people who were accustomed to neglect and abuse must have felt a fluttering image come into focus of the life they had been promised. The words we read in Isaiah today may even have taken them back to earlier words of promise in Deuteronomy that we heard in the first reading at Mass today (Deuteronomy 7:6-11): Moses said to the people: “You are a people sacred to the Lord, your God; he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be a people peculiarly his own. It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you are really the smallest of all nations. It was because the Lord loved you and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn to your fathers, that he brought you out with his strong hand from the place of slavery, and ransomed you . . .” This small nation, these insignificant people are lifted up and redeemed by a God-hero. Amazing words and deeds.

These words from today’s second reading (1 John 4:7-16) confirm our best hope: In this way the love of God was revealed to us: he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God loves us, so we also must love one another. We who are oppressed or lost, we who are abandoned are redeemed and brought back by a Wonder-Counselor. Amazing words and deeds.

We hear welcome words from Jesus in today’s Gospel (Matthew 11:25-30): Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.

This oppressed people, these burdened people are healed and transformed by a Prince of Peace. Amazing words and deeds.

Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Prince of Peace . . . and yet this one is meek and humble and willing to take on so much that is not his to take. This is the God who walks among us as one of us. This is the one who can exert all power over all things and all people yet he stoops to us in humility and meekness because this is how much he loves us. Amazing and wonderful that we are peculiarly God’s own.

Image from: https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20060424_rainbow

June 29, 2025

1 John 4:7-16, Advent, Deuteronomy 7:6-11, God’s love, hope, humility and meekness, Matthew 11:25-30

Tag: God’s love

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